Salzburg

Last week we went to Salzburg and took so many pictures (300), that posting on the blog took almost a week:) - I hope my dear reader, that the wait was worth it! Sophie was in awe; riding on a train into the mountains, how magnificent.


Sharing a love for Mozart and the movie ‘the Sound of Music’, the girls and I were resolved to see Salzburg this trip. Since it was only two hours or so away from where we were, it was basically a done deal. We took a train early in the morning via Landshut and arrived in Salzburg, Austria midmorning. Salzburg is a very old town and like Lueneburg a town that got rich and important through salt - the white gold (Salzburg literally means salt castle). Sophie was very excited to be in yet another country, she is very interested in regions, borders, states, capitals and such. As usual, our first stop was the tourist information to get a map and to find out what special things are happening. We purchased Salzburg cards for us, which included all the things we wanted to do. Even though those cards (most bigger towns offer them) are a bit pricey, they offer a lot and are perfect for a dense program like ours.


Our first stop was the bakery for a second breakfast, which we took to the Mirabell gardens, known by most people as the place where they are singing Do-Re-Mi in the film. The gardens are part of the Mirabell palace and found their form in 1730. There are flowers and trees, fountains and statues, beautiful architecture - simply a lovely place to have a snack and do some people watching. It is interesting to watch tourist all take the same pictures and to be so annoyed with all the tourists in their view, myself not excluded.


We strolled towards the river Salzach and crossed it to get to the ‘Altstadt’, the old part of town and to our first wonderful view of the castle, the dome, the churches and the abbey. Salzburg is at the very north end of the alps with typical alpine mountains to the south.


Johanna was dying to see Mozart’s birthplace, so we were headed towards it, but had to stop at the little chocolatier Fuerst, they claim to have invented the Mozart-Kugel, a confection made with pistachiopaste and chocolate, but we were a little disappointed, we imagined it to be more delicious, to bring some yet undiscovered culinary joy to our palate. It did not really matter though actually, because instead we were surprised with this beautiful street called Getreidegasse.


One of the great things when traveling to a city without having any knowledge of it’s sights is the lack of predetermined and preimagined impressions. Usually I am quite prepared, but sometimes it is more amazing to just be surprised, I knew the name of this cute street, but I had no idea it would look like this.


Mozart’s birth house in the middle of the street was very easy to find, as there were throngs of people standing in front of it.


The house is basically a museum, with a lot of background information, paintings of the family, original instruments, letters and music, furniture. They try to convey an image of what life was like, what his family was like, how they were traveling. Most amazing though where the exhibits of stage designs for Mozart operas, those were really captivating and imaginative. As interesting as the objects are, the real kick is just to stand in the room where he was born, to stand on the same wooden plank flooring, look at the tiled stove that heated the room and to imagine the life of the Mozart family. Done with Mozart and off to the castle while passing all these pretty town squares, little shops and beautiful baroque buildings.


Standing on the foot of the mountain that is crowned by the castle, we knew instantly that taking the train would be the preferred mode of transportation. The small angled train car climbs the hight at an amazing speed and it is so much more fun than walking.


The Festung Hohensalzburg, the fortress up on the hill that was built in 1077 is so enourmous and fantastic, we spend a lot of time and had to walk a lot. The royal chambers had the most beautiful and intricate woodwork that was a marvel to look at. There are courtyards everywhere and in the main big one were some people doing theater and acoustics were great.


Even though we had really wanted to see the famous organ, we seemed to just get lost in the castle and after a while we gave up, we were too tired. Instead we took the train down and walked through an old cemetery on the bottom of the mountain. We tried to find some icecream, but could not find what we had in mind and to rest our weary feet, we took a boat ride on the Salzach. It was not the most interesting boatride, but at least we got to sit and listen to somebody tell us some information.


Once we landed again, we found ourselves a nice table at the river and ordered Bosna, a traditional dish, which is basically 2 pork sausages with mustard and onions in a bun and actually quite delicious, even to Johanna and Sophie, who like neither onions nor mustard.


With our energy replenished, we could not decide if we would take a bus further out of town to go up a mountain on a cable car or if we should take the elevator up the closer mountain ‘Mönchsberg’’ and enjoy the view. We decided on the latter and did not regret our decision. The elevator itself was interesting, since it is inside the mountain. The view was spectacular and it was just plain nice to hang out up there. We met some travelers that happend onto Salzburg by chance and I was able to give them all sort of tips for the next day. Sometimes I wonder if the job of a travel guide would not be perfect for me.


We ended our trip with a walk by a craft market along the river and slowly made our way back to the station. Unfortunately getting back to my cousins home took 4.5 hours, even though it is so close, but trains are not always on time, not even in Germany and on a Sunday night, that can spoil plans. Waiting at the subway station for what seemed like an eternity was so difficult for the children, they were so very tired and exhausted, they just fell into bed, they were not even able to get into jammies. It was a wonderful day though, we saw so much and had so much fun. It was a perfect day, maybe a bit on the hot side, but we will keep that day in our minds forever.